


Tinsel & Tigers

by TysKitties



Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Multi, basically all the fluff, this fic is made of cotton candy and tinsel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 02:09:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5521529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TysKitties/pseuds/TysKitties
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ty, Zane, and the Grady's are invited out to the Carter-Garret ranch for Christmas. It goes about as one would expect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tinsel & Tigers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the_random_writer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_random_writer/gifts).



> This is post-series, so the families have already met and grown close, and Amelia is 5ish, making Sadie 11ish.
> 
> Huge thanks to tumblr user oh-so-shiny for beta reading this for me! Go love on her, she's great.
> 
> Last but not least, this is my Christmas present to my friend and usual beta, the_random_writer. She's literally the best and has helped me out a lot this past year. So I asked her what kind of fic she would like, if she could pick one genre Ty and Zane should have more of. She picked family fluff, so here we are. Go check her out, her writing is great, and her tumblr is be-thou-brave, where she enjoys snark and Karl Urban. Go love her.
> 
> PS my tumblr is now savesteeb if you want to go check me out.

Zane stepped out of the bustling line of people exiting the plane and waited, watching his approaching husband with a smile. Ty had spent the entire flight from Baltimore to Austin entertaining a pair of 6 year old twins, and was now playing pack mule for their mother so she could hold their hands while they got off the plane. The little group stopped by a row of seats, and Ty shifted the mother's luggage back to her, kneeling down to say goodbye to the little girls.

"You girls be good for your mama, you hear?" Ty waved them off and the girls giggled.

"Bye bye, Ty! Merry Christmas!" they called as they followed their mother towards the exit.

"Don't you think you'll get enough kid time over the holiday?" Zane teased as he steered Ty towards baggage claim.

Ty glanced at him with a shrug and a lopsided grin. "Probably, but someone needed to entertain them. That poor woman looked exhausted before we even got off the runway. Besides, they were going to talk to anyone who would listen, and I'm nicer than most people are to random kids on planes."

"Fair enough," Zane said evenly, although in his admittedly biased opinion, it had been more than nice.

Ty's generosity of spirit burned brightly year round, but around the holidays it seemed to shine like a star for all to see. Zane didn't mind as long as he could bask in the glow.

"That's our suitcase, grab it so we can get out of here. Manuel should be here by now to take us to the ranch."

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Because they'd tried to keep the book store open as long as possible and impose upon their catsitters as little as possible, Ty and Zane were the last ones to make it to the ranch. The Garretts had invited Ty's entire family for Christmas this year, and the sound of laughter greeted them as they walked through the door.

Beverly greeted Zane with a hug that had become customary and even bestowed one upon Ty. Annie gave them each one as well, and Sadie demanded to be picked up for hers. Mark clapped Zane on the shoulder before turning to shake Ty's hand.

Mara was next in line to greet Ty and Zane, and she pulled them both down into hugs, squeezing them tightly. "My handsome boys. And you both look so much better now that you don't get shot at for a living," she declared.

"Yeah, and they hardly ever break into my apartment while on the run from the CIA now," Deuce joked, hugging Ty and letting him greet Amelia, who had attached herself to her father’s leg.

"Very funny, Deacon. It was one time!"

"You almost electrocuted Livi!"

"That was the spook, not me! And you're one to talk, you hit me with the baseball bat I gave you! Who does that?"

Chester waved his shovel threateningly, almost clipping Mark in the process. "Both of you mind yer manners now!"

Ty and Deuce exchanged guilty glances. "Sorry, Grandpa," they chorused.

Earl rolled his eyes (much to Zane's amusement), and Harrison shooed the group towards the dining room. "We were promised dinner when you two showed up and I'm hungry. So get."

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

After dinner, Ty stretched out on the couch next to Zane. "You guys always have the best steak," he crooned, patting his belly. "We should get ourselves a couple of cows for the bookstore."

Zane was unmoved. "Absolutely not. The cats are bad enough."

"Speaking of, when do we go visit my tiger?" Ty asked eagerly.

"TIGER?" Amelia asked, waking from her after dinner nap and staring at Ty.

Deuce was already shaking his head before Ty had the chance to reply. "Absolutely not. You are not taking my daughter to meet a tiger."

"Aw c'mon, Deuce! Where's your sense of adventure? Don't tell me you're afraid of a little kitty cat!"

"We are talking about a tiger, Tyler."

"Fine," Ty said, waving a hand, "he's a really big kitty cat. I'm telling you, Barnum's a good boy!"

Deuce's eyebrows climbed into his hairline. "Didn't he eat someone?"

"The official police report says that the victim was hit by a truck," said Ty immediately. "But the guy threatened Sadie at gunpoint, so I'm on the hypothetical hungry tiger's side either way."

Deuce muttered something under his breath and rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

Seeing he wasn't getting anywhere, Ty tried a different approach. "Liv, what do you think? Doesn't Amelia deserve to meet such a heroic creature?"

"I think she could at least go to the enclosure," Livi said slowly as Deuce looked at her with growing horror. "I don't know that she should go in, but it's just as safe as the zoo outside the cage, right?"

"Liv," Deuce groaned, "no, you're supposed to-"

"Wonderful! We'll all go do that after breakfast then!" Ty crowed with a satisfied grin. "You coming, Zane?"

"No, doll. I think I'll sit this one out."

"Suit yourself."

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

The next morning, Ty and the rest of the Gradys headed on over to the Big Cat Rescue as planned.

Deuce blinked hard as he caught sight of the tigers for the first time. "Whoa."

Ty stood in front of Barnum and Bailey's enclosure and beamed like a proud parent. "Yeah they're pretty great, huh? What d'ya say, wanna watch me play with them for a while? Then you can decide if you wanna touch them. You don't have to go in, but they like ear scratches through the fence."

"Tyler, do not get my daughter's hand eaten. She doesn’t need to match you."

"Oh hush, Deacon. They won't hurt her. See, they're friendly!"

Deuce cringed as he watched his brother's already tooth-scarred hand pass through the fence and rub a tiger's head. To his disbelief, the tiger chuffed and shoved his head against Ty's hand, bracing himself when the other tiger tried to push him out of the way to get his own pets.

"Bailey, wait your turn," Ty laughed.

"I wanna pet the kitties!" Amelia jumped up and down.

"I'll hold her, Deuce. Don't worry. She'll be perfectly safe," Ty reassured his brother.

Deuce sighed, finally giving in. Ultimately when it came down to it, it was a matter of trust. And when it came to the safety of his family, he trusted Ty implicitly. "Fine, but it's on you when she decides to be a zookeeper. And you're on stuffed animal purchase duty for a while."

Ty held Amelia up to tiger's full height and quietly warned her, "They're very friendly, but you still have to be nice. Stay awake from their mouths, noses, and eyes, and no grabbing, ok?"

"Got it, Uncle Ty!"

While Amelia giggled and stroked Barnum and Bailey, Deuce fretted, and Livi took an almost constant stream of pictures and recorded a few short videos. Eventually though, Amelia's arms got tired, and she asked to be put down.

Ty took that as his opportunity, and got the keys to the enclosure from the caretaker supervising their visit.

He headed into the enclosure and grabbed the tigers' soccer ball from the ground. Whistling at them, he tossed the ball past them. The two tigers crashed together, racing to the ball to make Ty throw it again. Bailey won, rolling over on top of the ball and kicking it in Ty's direction. They chased it back towards him, and Mara gave a squeak as Barnum abandoned the chase in favor of pouncing on Ty himself, taking him to the ground and rubbing his face all over Ty's head.

"Well that's not usually a legal move in soccer, but it's definitely pretty cute," Mara commented as it became clear Ty was in no danger.

Earl looked at her for a long moment before simply shaking his head. "Pretty stupid, you mean," he snorted. "Boy already got half eaten by one big cat, now he's trying to feed himself to these two. He's your child when he's like this. My boy is the sensible one over there trying to keep his daughter from riding the damn things."

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

Christmas morning thankfully found everyone with all of their appendages. Barnum and Bailey had made quite the impression, and much to Ty's delight (and Deuce's dismay), Amelia simply could not stop talking about them. Even a pile of brightly wrapped toys and games were not quite enough to distract her from her newfound love for the big cats, and it wasn't until her mother and father consented to take her for another visit that she settled down.

The excitement ramped up again when Sadie was presented with a new horse, bigger than Pink Pony, so she could learn real roping, as well as all of his tack.

"What are you going to name him?" Zane asked Sadie.

"I think I'm gonna name him Tortilla," she replied, and Zane couldn't hold back a smile.

Sadie and Amelia had made everyone ornaments, and beamed when everyone promised to put them on their trees every year, passing out hugs as rewards for their family’s appreciation.

Much to Ty's delight, Annie and all of the Gradys had joined forces to collect a few dozen new T-shirts for him, all with puns or snarky captions, all book related, and PG enough to wear at the bookstore. Harrison and Beverly had tracked down a rare part for Ty's Mustang, and Zane could tell Ty was thinking about booking a flight right back to Baltimore so he could install it.

Zane was more difficult to shop for overall, so he was given a lot the three things everyone knew he liked: books, clothes, and knives. He immediately pulled on one of his new sweaters and looked wistfully at the books until Ty blocked his view.

Mara had been complaining that her mixer was acting up, so Ty and Deuce got her the nicest one they could find, with Zane making sure it was something that a non-professional chef would want.  
Earl got a new power drill.

"Can't wait to see what Ma does to him with that," Ty muttered, making Deuce choke on his eggnog.

Chester cackled when he unwrapped his new walking stick. Mara looked pleased as punch that her boys had finally managed to get him something innocuous until he twisted the handle and pulled, exposing the sword hidden inside.

She sighed as he swung it from side to side. "There goes another garden hose."

Deuce and Livi got "coupons" for free babysitting from their family, and tickets to a couple of concerts they had wanted to see.

Beverly got jewelry and a new desk, while Harrison received the very impressive pedigree of the new colt Zane had snuck into the stables the night before.

After everything was finally unwrapped, Ty and Deuce took it upon themselves to start a snowball fight with the wrapping paper. The kids enthusiastically joined and dragged everyone else in. By the time the laughter died down, the entire living room was a mess, and there were enough wrapping paper balls on the tree to look like ornaments.

For a moment, Beverly almost moved to clean up, but as she took in the looks of joy on her family's faces, she slowly settled back in her chair. A clean living room could wait until another day. Right then, she couldn't imagine a better way to spend Christmas than surrounded by wrapping paper casualties and her family's laughter.


End file.
